My Journey

I am an immigrant from Liberia who always dreamed of changing the world and leaving an impact. Growing up in the slums of West Africa, I lived with my grandmother, mother, and my two siblings. As the middle child and the oldest male in the family, I quickly became responsible for being the ‘Man’ of the house at a very young age. My father won a visa lottery in 2000 when I was just two years old and fulfilled his dream of coming to the United States, the place he called "heaven on earth".

I would wake up every morning on an empty stomach and walk two miles barefoot through trash and waste fields to a water source, whether rivers, wells, or lakes, just so my two siblings, mother, and grandmother had clean water to use in the morning.

I would lay in bed many nights and dream about coming to heaven on earth. I would dream about clean water, clean streets and a constant healthy hot meal.

Near my home, there were always random riots and militarized police killing innocent people - people that I knew. Numerous members of my family died in these riots and I grew up never knowing how long my life would span, and which day would be my last. I recalled a time where my mother had to rush to school to get my siblings and I because riots were happening, and the rioters were known to enter schools and hold the kids as hostages to bargain with the government.

In 2008, after eight years of being in America by himself, my father was finally financially stable enough to bring his family to come to see the country that he always talked about and loved. When my family and I arrived in America, my two siblings, my mother, and father all lived in a one-bedroom apartment for about a year. After this, we moved to a small public housing unit in Saint Paul, MN, which wasn’t any easier. 

Being in America has had it's challenges. I was constantly bullied in school because of my accent, the clothing I wore, and the way I smelled. As a result of this bullying, I seemed to lose interest and motivation in school, which reflected poorly on my grades and on my relationships with my teachers. There would be many days where I would cry at home because I no longer wanted to deal with the pain of being bullied.

Despite everything that I have been through, I always had hope - the hope of a better life, the hope of a better future and the hope of a better world. This hope keeps me alive and optimistic as I continue my journey and experience all the positives and the negative life throws my way. 

I will never forget where I came from and hope that one day, I will be able to effectively contribute to society. I believe that when we think about the 1%, we are always quick to think about rich people, and not realize just by being in America, having clean water, a home, and food makes you a part of the 1% of the population that is living a sustainable life.

“My passion is for me, my purpose is for others”.